RELENTLESS

by HelenKay Dimon

  “Sounds dirty,” Joel said without lifting his head from the blueprint study.

  As if they had an extra few minutes to check out a car. But when no one explained, Jocelyn went searching for one. “Uh, why?”

  Ben’s head came around and he stared at her. “Gun practice.”

  The intense look shot right through her. His mood shifted to serious and the heat in his eyes told her not to argue. This wasn’t sexual, as Joel joked. This was more like an order. For the first in a long time, the tone didn’t make her throw up a solid emotional wall in defense.

  “We’re going to shoot cars?” she asked when he didn’t cough up another answer. Leave it to Ben to go quiet all of a sudden, just when she needed more information.

  “It’s not really a garage.”

  Again he stopped and again she had to poke him until he said something helpful. “What is it?”

  “A weapons depot of sorts—and you’re not going to shoot. We’d need a range and we can’t get to one without further endangering you. The plan is to work on aim, show you how the weapons work, get you comfortable holding one.” Ben laid it all out, then leaned back in his chair.

  It was as if he waited for her to scream or have a fit. She half expected those feelings to rush up on her, but they didn’t. Anxiety bubbled inside her as it always did but the overwhelming need to flee didn’t hit her. She chalked that up to progress.

  Probably also had something to do with the emotional free fall she’d been in for more than a week. That had one source—Ben. He smiled, he frowned, he spoke to her in a quiet whisper or he clenched his jaw, like he was doing now, and her heart performed a happy little spin.

  He’d gone from potential date to bodyguard and now to the man she wanted in her life. The change smacked into her as her breath whooshed out. This was more than a free fall—it was a falling-for-him kind of thing.

  She shoved back from the table and almost put her head between her knees. Would have if she didn’t have an audience.

  When he frowned at her, she knew she wasn’t hiding the realization all that well but suspected he thought she got nauseous at the idea of guns. Not at all. She got it now. Sometimes the good guys needed to be armed.

  Right before he could say something, she collected her jangling nerves and forced out a question. “And why do I need these gun skills?”

  Connor broke in. “He needs you to be ready.”

  Okay. That didn’t answer anything. “For what?”

  Ben’s hand hit the back of her chair and he spun her so that she faced him. “Anything.”

  * * *

  TWO HOURS LATER Ben watched Jocelyn massage her palm with her opposite thumb. She’d followed every direction without arguing or passing out. When he first mentioned the guns, he thought she’d slide right under the conference-room table. Not now.

  No way was he going to resist kissing her. Seemed wrong what with everything brewing around them and her obvious distress, but the need started backing up on him and he wanted a release.

  “You’re pretty amazing.”

  She glanced up at him. Her bright smile came a beat later. “You’re not bad yourself.”

  He put the last of the guns in the locked cabinet and closed the false wall. When he leaned back against the workbench, she stepped right into the space between his legs. It was as if the woman was made for him.

  He curled a piece of her soft auburn hair around his index finger. “Strong, beautiful, smart.”

  “You are a sweet-talking man.” Her fingers fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. She unbuttoned the top one and traced the collar of the white T-shirt underneath.

  If they weren’t standing in the middle of a pile of weapons, he’d be stripping that sexy tank top off her right now. He settled for something more G-rated. “I’d rather be the man you’re kissing.”

  Her hand slipped up his neck to the back of his head. “We can make that happen.”

  With a gentle pressure, she brought his head down. Not that it took much to get him going. The start of an erection pressed against his fly and air hammered in his lungs. There wasn’t a moment he didn’t want her.

  A loud beep came right before Joel’s voice broke into the heavy breathing. “How is it going?”

  Ben’s head dropped right before their lips met. He looked up and shot his teammate a death glare. “Apparently it’s not going to happen this second.”

  Joel smiled as he looked from Ben to Jocelyn. “Did I interrupt something?”

  “No,” she said but she didn’t jump back or out of his arms.

  That was the only thing keeping him from lunging across the room and strangling Joel. “Yes.”

  She let her hands slide down Ben’s chest. When she turned around to face Joel, Ben caught her with one finger hooked through her belt loop. He was fine with her staying close. Plus, she hid a bulge that Joel would give him crap about for days if he saw it.

  “What’s up?” she asked with the amusement still evident in her voice.

  “A missing fourteen feet.”

  Maybe it was a sign of what was going on when Joel burst in, but Ben couldn’t make sense of the comment. “Excuse me?”

  “Checked the blueprints and compared to the photos I took inside the bank and the ones I have from outside on the street. Did a bunch of measurements—”

  Ben smiled. “Of course you did.”

  “—and there’s something between those two buildings, between the bank and Gary’s place.”

  “Maybe the bank’s safe.” Jocelyn shifted as if she planned to step away.

  With his hands on her hips, Ben pulled her back against him.

  Joel shook his head. “No, this is on the second floor, above the safe.”

  The beeping returned. Only this wasn’t one long squeal to signal the lock being disengaged. This was a motion detector.

  She stiffened. “What is that?”

  This time Ben let her pull away. The shot of adrenaline killed off the last of the sexual desire brewing inside him. It sputtered right out as he unlocked the cabinet behind him and grabbed the silencers and vests.

  “We’ve got company,” he said as he turned her around and put the Kevlar on her. Then he opened her palm and put a small gun in it. “Good thing you’re a quick learner.”

  She stared at the weapon where it lay in her hand. “All this because someone’s at the door of the house? Maybe just ratchet down the testosterone and tell whoever it is to go away.”

  Ben hadn’t put up the garage windows. Metal shutters covered every entrance but the door. From the outside, they looked like part of the wall. Nothing out of the ordinary. From the inside, complete armored protection.

  Joel reached under the cabinet at the far side of the four-berth garage and a monitor flashed on. Darkness had begun to fall but the security system found the heat signatures. The images adjusted, moving in click by click. The closest camera pinned them at the house’s back porch.

  “No cookie-selling there.” Joel pointed at the man near the kitchen door. “This one? He’s not visiting. That’s a gun he’s holding.”

  Jocelyn leaned in close and squinted at the screen. “More attackers. You’ve got to be kidding. Here?”

  “Looks like we scared dear ol’ Gary,” Ben said and Joel nodded.

  “What?” She seemed to be having some trouble taking it all in. She turned around in the open space as the familiar look of fear crossed her mouth and her eyes glazed. “You think he sent commandos.”

  “We meet him and suddenly we have people with guns stalking this place. Nobody followed us back here, so yeah, I blame Gary.” Joel clipped on a shoulder holster and put his usual gun in it while he held the one with the silencer.

  She shot him a “you’ve lost your mind” glare. “How do you know n
o one was behind us?”

  “I know.”

  Ben decided to spare her the car speech from Joel. The man knew his vehicles and could maneuver through the streets with ease. He also had a sense when he was being followed and didn’t think twice of circling around for hours to lose someone. “It’s one of Joel’s specialty areas. It would be hard for someone to tie this property to the team, but if you have skills and access to the right databases, it’s not impossible.”

  “Connor might want to work on that.” She pulled her cell out of her front jeans pocket. “On that topic, shouldn’t we warn him there are two guys on his back porch?”

  “Oh, he knows.” No sooner had Ben made the comment than a light in the house’s kitchen went on.

  “He’s walking right into a trap.” Jocelyn stepped forward.

  Ben grabbed her by the back of the shirt. “You stay here.”

  “But Connor needs—”

  Feeling her body tremble under his hands, Ben leaned down and whispered in her ear, “He’s only opening that back door when he wants it open. He’s got this. I promise.”

  As if they’d conjured him up, Connor’s voice broke through the garage. Jocelyn jumped and let out a little squeal. Ben held a hand against her but joined Joel in watching that back door across the yard.

  The intercom speaker was in the ceiling and Connor gave a play-by-play on the whole scene as it unfolded outside. That was what happened when you had a state-of-the-art security system.

  “Two heat signatures. I’m coming around the side in five.” Connor’s steady voice echoed as he started the countdown. “Five...four...”

  Jocelyn’s eyes widened. “Is Connor crazy?”

  “Popular question.” Ben pointed at the far wall. “You stand there and don’t move.”

  “I have a gun.”

  Now was not the time for this. Joel inched toward the door to the backyard and sent Ben the “move it” signal, so he went for the hard truth. “And I don’t want to worry about you being shot.”

  “Okay.”

  That was almost too easy. “Like that?”

  “This time, yes. Go.” She went on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

  “Two...one...”

  Forcing his head back in the game, Ben took his position on the opposite side of the doorway. He nodded at Joel as he slammed the garage door open and the humid night air rushed in. The two in the yard spun around at the sound. The one on the right didn’t even get his gun aimed before Joel peeked around the doorway and nailed him in the shoulder. When he tried to get off an off-balance second shot, Ben’s shot took him down.

  The steady pings of gunfire rang out. The silencers filtered most of the noise, and the property’s setback in a group of trees and up on a hill hid the rest. The one remaining attacker took a hit to the thigh and doubled over. His leg seemed to go to sleep. He dragged it behind him as he tried to take cover on the back porch. The railing didn’t help and Connor didn’t keep furniture there. It was an open space and gave the team an unrestricted shot.

  Another shot and the guy went down. On his elbow and still shooting, he dragged his body to the back door. His shots went wide as the barrel bounced around from all the shifting. Nerves seemed to be settling in and his movements turned jerky.

  Got him.

  Ben gave Joel the signal to move outside. “Let’s go.”

  They could disarm the guy and grab him for questioning. Crouched and going in, they ran across the backyard. The attacker did a double take at the wall of men coming at him. Going faster now, he groaned and half crawled toward the side of the house. His hand slapped against the wooden slats as his gun clanked at his side.

  He made it a few feet, but only thanks to the lack of firepower coming at him because of the stated goal to take the guy alive. Joel and Ben were up on him, just a few feet behind, when Connor moved out of the shadows and stepped on his hand hard with a work boot.

  “That’s far enough.”

  The guy screamed as the crunching sound filled the night air.

  “That had to—”

  Joel’s words were cut off as the attacker made a lunging move. A gun appeared in his other hand and a roar of rage escaped him as he aimed for Connor’s stomach.

  Ben slammed a bullet in the back of the attacker’s head before he could fire the shot. He fell in a boneless, dead fall, thudding against the wood.

  Connor dropped down on the balls of his feet and felt for a pulse. He picked up the weapons as he shook his head. “He’s done.”

  Ben refused to feel sorry about that. He went off plan, but Connor’s death wasn’t on the menu, either.

  Connor stood up and glanced over at Ben. “Thanks for that.”

  “You guys made that sort of gunfire run-around thing look easy.” Jocelyn offered the comment as she started across the yard. She still held the gun. Instead of shaking on her feet, she walked tall and the tremble in her voice stayed at a minimum.

  In that moment, Ben knew she’d ignored his order. She’d been outside and watched it all. She wasn’t the type to hide. Not anymore.

  That she walked into danger frustrated him, but he admired her spirit. Other people in her position, including many of the tough guys he worked with at NCIS, would be asking for protective custody and riding the danger out in a hotel somewhere. Not her.

  Still, the urge to pack her off did kick strong. “You okay?”

  She looked at all three Corcoran men but not at the guys on the ground. “I had the safe part of the job. Just stood over there with my fingers ready to dial 9-1-1.”

  Connor put his hands on his hips. “I hate when people come to the house. You’re just begging to be shot when you step on my property without an invitation.”

  “Obviously,” she said. “So, now what?”

  “We clear these two out.” Velcro ripped as Connor grabbed his phone out of a pocket in his vest.

  “How exactly?” Her question sounded more confused than anything.

  Ben couldn’t blame her. Until he threw in with Corcoran, he’d never known a private group who could “handle” this sort of thing. People broke in, you called the police.

  Not Connor. He had government and police contacts, and depended on those to clean up a lot of messes. To preserve Corcoran’s anonymity and ability to do the job, Connor kept the name out of reports and the paper. In exchange for letting other law-enforcement agencies get the credit, Corcoran stayed undercover.

  “We know people,” he said.

  Jocelyn smiled at that. “You mean Detective Willoughby?”

  His smile slipped at the mention of the new guy Connor didn’t have under control. “Not if I can help it.”

  “I guess that means it’s time for me to finally throw up as I’ve been promising, then go to sleep with a gun under my pillow.” She shot Ben a side-glance as she mentioned that last part.

  He hated to postpone whatever she had in mind, but he knew Connor would want to move. You did not crash his house and expect him to wait to respond. “Connor plans for us to leave in the next ten minutes.”

  “Exactly,” Connor said. “We call Kent and demand a meeting. I want us back in that bank right now. No more waiting, because the bad guys sure aren’t.”

  “But they aren’t winning,” Ben pointed out because he wanted to put a lid on the anxiety welling inside him. “You know, to the extent that means anything.”

  “If I have to break through that wall on the bank’s second story, we’re seeing what’s behind there. I’m tired of the lying and games.”

  Joel pocketed two more weapons from those scattered on the ground. “I can stay here with Jocelyn. Guard her or maybe take her over to Davis and Pax for safekeeping, then circle around to give you backup.”

  “We all go.” Connor glanced aro
und. “And we need these bodies moved before a nosy neighbor decides to go for a walk and calls in the cavalry.”

  The words sent a shock of denial through Ben. Connor was the boss, but still... “All of us are going to the bank?”

  Jocelyn nodded. “Except for the part where I’ve lost all feeling in my legs, I agree with that plan.”

  “You do?” Connor must have found it funny because her response eased some of the strain over his eyes.

  “If the bad guys are storming the house, I’m not going to be here to welcome them. I would much rather be wherever you guys are.” She frowned at Joel. “And what are you thinking? I am not leading attackers to a pregnant woman’s front door, so forget about the Davis angle.”

  On one level—the professional, commonsense one—Ben knew that was the right answer. That didn’t mean he liked it. His brain and body were definitely not working together on this plan “We’ll see.”

  Joel joined Connor in smiling. “I’m thinking we’re growing on Jocelyn here. She’s started to get used to having us around.”

  “I think you’re basically comparing us to mold,” Connor pointed out.

  She stepped over the first attacker and headed for the back porch. Her footing faltered when she looked down, but she quickly recovered. “Call yourselves whatever you want, but I’m coming along.”

  Ben knew she’d made up her mind. That meant he was stuck now.

  Chapter Fourteen

  They got to the bank across town in record time. Jocelyn stood in Kent’s private office with a wall of male protection around her. Safe and cocooned by Corcoran Team members with Ben at her back and Connor and Joel on either side. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Really off.

  Kent sat in his big leather chair and twirled his cell phone around in his fingers. Between the fidgeting and the sweat staining the armpits of his dark blue shirt, she almost felt sorry for him. Or she would if it weren’t so obvious he was hiding something. Even Ed stood guard at his side, frowning down at him.

  “Anything you want to say, Kent?” Connor asked for the second time, this version in a lower, huskier “I’m done with you” tone.